Abstract:

Letters that have made, and still can make, the world a better place. In an era where the liberties we often take for granted are under threat, Letters To Change the World is a beautifully produced collection of inspiring letters - some private and some open - that offer reminders from history that standing up for and voicing our personal and political beliefs is a crucial right and a duty if we want to change the world. From Abraham Lincoln and Emmeline Pankhurst through to Obama and Malala, many are penned by major figures from the world stage, others by ordinary citizens caught up in the stream of history in their pursuit of what's right. The letters, each briefly introduced to give its full historical context, cover every modern political and social cause and give a sense of the struggles of the past with the intimate first-hand access that only letters allow. The collection includes George Orwell's warning on totalitarianism, Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Albert Camus on the reasons to fight a war, Bertrand Russell on being a conscientious objector, Emmeline Pankhurst rallying her suffragettes, Nelson Mandela's letters home to his children from prison and Obama's letter to his daughters on Inauguration.

Contents

Introduction

1.William Wilberforce's Letter to Thomas Jefferson on Slavery, 1808

2.Elizebeth Fry's Memorandum on Prisons, 1817

3.Richard Oastler's Letter to the Leeda Mecury on Child Labour, 1830

4.Karl Marx et al's Letter to Abraham Lincoln on his Re-election, 1865

5.Barbara Bodichon's Correspondence with Helen Taylor on Women Suffrage, 1866

6.Colonel Robert Loyd-Lindsay's Letter to the Times on War, 1870

7.George Washington Williams Letter to king Leopold II of Belgium on the Congo, 1890

8.Leo Tolstoys Letter to Mahatma Gandhi on Passive Resistance, 1910

9.Emmeline Pankhurst's Letter on Suffragette Militancy 1913

10.Emily Hobhouse et al's Open Letter to the Women of Germany Resistance, 1910

11.Emma Goldman's Letter to the Guardian on Conscientious Objection, 1917

12.Bertrand Russell's letters to the Guardian on Conscientious Objection, 1917

13.Wilfred Owen's Letter to his Mother on War, 1917

14.Siegfried Sasson's Letter to the Time on War, 1917

15.Mahatma Gandhi's Letter to Every Englishman in India, 1920

16.Virginia Woolf's Letters to the New Stateman on Women Artists, 1920

17.Various Women's Letters to Marie Stopes on Birth Control, 1921

18.Amelia Earhart's Letter to her Future Husband on Marriage, 1931

19.Yevgeny Zamyatin's Letter to Joseph Stalin on Artistic Freedom, 1931

20.Albert Einstein's Correspondance with Sigmond Freud on Global Peace, 1932

21.The Mayor of Jarrow J.W.Thompson's Letter Calling for Support for Unemployed Men, 1936

22.Antonio Gramsci's Letters to his Wife and Son From Prison on Family, 1936

23.Anais Nin's Letter To Robert Duncan on Homosexuality, 1936

24.A.A. Milne's Letter to a Correspondent on Pacifism, 1939

25.Albert Camus "etters tp a German Friend on the Occupation, 1943-4

26.Zora Neale Hurston's Letter to Countee Cullen on Segregation, 1943

27.George Orwells Letters to a Noel Wilmett on Totalitarianism, 1944

28.Niels Bohr's Open Letter to the United Nations on Nuclear Arms, 1950

29.Lillian Hellman's Letter to the House Un-American activities Committee on the Fifth Amendment, 1952.

30.Paul Robeson's Open Letter to Jackie Robinson on Civil Rights, 1953

31.Rachel Carson's Letter to the Washington Past on the Natural World, 1953

32.Czeslaw Milosz's Open Letter to Pablo Picasso on Communism, 1956

33.Doris Lessing's Letter to E.P.Thompson on the Communist Party, 1957

34.Doris Lessing's Letter to E.P.Thompson on the Communist Party, 1957

35.Alan Paton et at's Open Letter to Harold Macmillan on Apartheid, 1959

36.W.E.B. Du Bois's Letter to the Communist Party on the Failure of Capitalism, 1961

37.Nikita Khrushchev's Lette to John F.Kennedy on the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962

38.Martin Luther King Jr's Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963

39.Joan Baez's Open Letter to the Internal Revenue Service on the Vietnam War, 1964

40.Ernesto 'Che' Guevara's Letter to Ernest Heyn on the Exploration of the Seas, 1966

42.Ron Ridenhour's Letters to Ernest Heyn on the Exploration of the Seas, 1966

43.Nelson Mandela's Letter to his Daughters on their Mothers Imprisonment, 1969

44.Vaclav Havel's Letter to Dr.Gustav Husak on Repression, 1975

45. Red Saunders et al's Letter to the Music Press on Racism in Rock Music, 1976

46.Armistead Maupin's Letter to Mama on Coming

47.Harvey Milk's Letter to Jimmy Carter on Gay Rights, 1978

48.The Women of Greenham Common's Letter to Women on Nuclear War, 1981

49.Deirdre R hys-Thomas's Letter to Dr.Benjamin Spock on Nuclear War, 1985

50.Olusegun Obasanjo's Letter to Margaret Thatcher on Apartheid, 1986

51.Alex Molar's Letter to the New Your Times on the Gulf War, 1990.

52.Phyllis and Orlando Rodriguez's Letter to the New York Times on Terrorism, 2001

53.Tilda Swinton's Letter to the Late Derek Jarman on Art, 2002

54.Alice Waler's Open Letter to Barack Obama on his Election, 2008

55.Tony Benn's Letter to his Grandchildrn on Changing the World, 2009

56.Stephen fry's Open Letter to David Cameron and the International Olympic Committee on Homophobia, 2013

57.Edward Snowden's OpenLetter on Mass Surveillance, 2013

58.Benedict Cumberbatch et al's Open Letter to David Cameron Calling for the Pardon of Gay and Bisexual Men, 2015

59.Ziauddin Yousafzai's Letter to the Parents of the Abducted Chibok Girls on Female Education, 2015

60.Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti etal.'s Letter to Donald Trump on Climate Change, 2016

61.Patrick Millsap's Open Letter to Ariana Grande on the Manchester Terrorist Attack, 2017

62.Time's Up's Letter to the New York Times on Sexual Harassment 2018

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